Tiresias

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Interview with Tiresias

Shmoop's crack team of P.I.s recently made an amazing discovery: an extensive log of every single one of Tiresias' visions of the future. (Watch out, Nostradamus.) Below, you'll find highlights from some of his most famous predictions.

Vision Log

Future Report:Laius/Jocasta Bad news

The birds were singing about something pretty awful on the horizon for King Laius and Jocasta today. It looks like their kid, who will be named Oedipus, is going to end up killing Laius and marrying Jocasta. Currently debating whether or not I should tell them. The Fates seem pretty firm on this one. Maybe it's better if they don't know.

Future Report:Laius/Jocasta More bad news

I decided not to say anything to the King and Queen, but the King ended up hearing about it from the Oracle of Delphi. Sometime, I wish the priestess over there would keep her mouth shut. Laius and Jocasta pierced the kid's ankles and left him on a mountain. There's no way they're going to avoid their fate, though. If I weren't so used to seeing all the bad things that are going to happen, I might feel bad for them.

Future Report:OedipusIf possible...worse news

Well, this whole Oedipus situation really blew up today. Once again the Oracle of Delphi ran her mouth. Oedipus went there, trying to find out who his real parents were, and she told him about the whole kill-his-father-sleep-with-his-mother-thing. Now he's going to avoid the people who he thinks are his parents, come back here to Thebes, unknowingly kill Laius, and win Jocasta's hand by solving the riddle of the Sphinx. Wow, the Fates really got sadistic with this one.

Future Report:OedipusWorst news of all

Have I mentioned how much the Oracle of Delphi gets on my nerves? She told Creon that this awful plague is ravaging Thebes because the city is harboring Laius' murderer. So Oedipus puts on his Sherlock hat (later readers will get that reference) and starts investigating. He even interrogated the crap out of me, and I finally told him that he was the one. Of course, he didn't believe me. He even accused me of being the murderer. Can you believe the guy? Whatever, soon he'll figure out the truth, blind himself, and stumble around the wilderness with no one but his daughter Antigone to guide him.

Future Report:OedipusI'm thinking about moving

You'd think that a guy who can see the future would choose a more peaceful city to live in, right? I'm not sure what's wrong with me. Maybe the gods knocked a screw loose when they struck me blind. Now Thebes is in the middle of a civil war.

When Oedipus went off into the wilderness, he left his sons Eteocles and Polyneices in charge, and the two agreed that they would switch off ruling the city every year. You didn't have to be able to predict the future to know that that kind of arrangement wasn't going to work out. Eteocles refused to let Polyneices have his turn, and now Polyneices is marching against the seven gates of Thebes with a huge army.

The birds are singing that the total annihilation of Thebes is a done deal unless I step in and help out. It turns out that Thebes will be saved as long as Creon sacrifices his son, Menoeceus. I plan to tell Creon about it, but I already know he's going to try to get his son to safety. Of course, I also already know that Menoeceus is going to go sacrifice himself anyway. Joke's on Creon, I guess.

Future Report:Creon/Antigone This is the last straw

Well, we got the whole civil war wrapped up, but Thebes is still full of turmoil. Eteocles and Polyneices ended up killing each other on the battlefield. (Great work, bone-heads. Now, neither of you get to rule.) Now Creon is in charge, and he made his first decree that no one is allowed to bury Polyneices' body.

Antigone wasn't going to stand for that, though, so she buried Polyneices anyway. So Creon decided to punish her by burying her alive. I went and told him that if he didn't get her out of that tomb fast, then he was really going to regret it. He didn't believe me (big surprise there), and now everything is awful. Antigone hung herself in the tomb, Creon's son Haemon killed himself because he loved Antigone, and Creon's wife Eurydice killed herself because of Haemon.

I seriously need to move somewhere with less drama.

Future Report:Odysseus Break from the boredom

Been in the Underworld for a while now, tapping around the Asphodel Meadows. People tell me all these flowers are pretty, but I wouldn't know; for some reason I'm still blind even though my soul is free of my body. Not sure why I drank from the poison spring of Telphussa. Why didn't I predict that that would kill me? Oh well, at least my daughter, Manto, is installed as the new Oracle of Delphi. Maybe she'll get things running a little better over there.

Had a break in the boredom, though, when Odysseus swung by. I was happy to help the guy. He seems like somebody who really takes his prophets seriously. I made sure he knew not to eat Helios' cattle when he comes upon them. I can see that his men will eat them anyway, but at least Odysseus will heed my warning. He's got a long trip ahead of him, but I know he'll make it home. This makes me happy. Despite what people think, I do like happy endings.